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YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

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Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#21
post #3

I haven't watched Stefan in a long time, is he now producing content in the same register as David Duke & Richard Spencer ? It did not seem to be the case a few years ago.

He's always been pretty awful and white-supremacist-adjacent.

This "adjacent" concept has no meaning. Paraphrasing a point I made on Twitter recently:

- Richard Spencer: evil. Created 'alt right' movement.

- Ben Shapiro: called 'alt right' because he's right wing

- Joe Rogan: called 'alt right' because he talked to Ben

- Bernie Sanders supporters: called 'alt right' because Joe endorsed Bernie.

Ergo: by this logic Karl Marx could be considered 'alt right'

Molyneaux might be awful, he might be fine. But the argument one way or the other must be made on his own merits, not those around him.

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Edit: Replying to dralley due to rate limit:"

I have included an example where there are four links. But 'adjacent' is a plainly silly idea if there is only one link.

If 'adjacent' being silly isn't already obvious, you may be very left wing (since 'adjacent' seems to be a popular argument on the left).

So consider: former KKK member Robert Byrd is in a photo being friendly with Hillary Clinton [1].

Is Hillary Clinton alt-right adjacent? Plainly Hillary Clinton is not alt-right adjacent. That argument would be absurd to make. Guilt by association is evil.

To determine whether Stefan Molyneux's ideas are good or bad, we should consider Stefan Molyneux's ideas. Not anyone else's.

You've included a video of Stefan Molyneux speaking. That's good - we can find out what he has to say for himself. What someone else has to say is irrelevant.

[1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/clinton-byrd-photo-klan/

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#22
It's a purge. It won't stop with these three. The censorship will continue to get worse and be disproportionately applied to those on the right until all is left with the world.

Conservatism has a place in society. I'm not endorsing any of these guys viewpoints nor am I associating them with conservatism in general, because it's a broad group of over 100 million people in the U.S. with a diverse range of opinions that lean to the right. It's extremely important that society be balanced and not tilted to the extremes of either ideology. This process of selective banning and purging will not end well for Silicon Valley. The problem is they are not approaching the left's extremists with the same fervor. In fact they're turning a blind eye to the vicious hate against cops and conservatives on their own platforms.

And a lot of this hate is disproportionate to reality. That is, the perception of the problem exceeds the actual statistical problem.

I'm of the strong opinion that a society needs it's left and right brain to function properly and constructively in order to tackle the diverse set of problems we face. If there is no push-pull give and take between these two groups, then society will become unstable and increasingly more polarized.

I'm a free market capitalist, but with Silicon Valley's recent muscular intervention into free speech, and the overwhelming propaganda power they possess, I fully support the break up of big tech monopolies in social media, search, and app stores.

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#23

You are free to speak and exercise your freedom of speech no one really disputes that. You are not, however, anywhere guaranteed or granted the liberty to a platform for your dialog. That is the problem that we are encountering today, people are thinking that there are attacks to freedom of speech and confusing that with the freedom of an establishment to defend their property from damages. I think we can all agree t…

> The only case where a platform must provide services outside of the strictest sense of an intended audience is in through US Code Titles that may be applicable by law such ADA accessibilities (these codes are of course regional and may not apply outside the region in which that service is provided).

So we're going to start see ADA accommodations for white supremacists claiming they're mentally handicapped and therefore shouldn't be censored?

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#24
post #8
post #3

I haven't watched Stefan in a long time, is he now producing content in the same register as David Duke & Richard Spencer ? It did not seem to be the case a few years ago.

Yes, I don't remember Stefan Molyneux saying anything racist. Can someone share an example?

There's a collection of racist quotes from him here: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/indi...

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#25
post #8
post #3

I haven't watched Stefan in a long time, is he now producing content in the same register as David Duke & Richard Spencer ? It did not seem to be the case a few years ago.

Yes, I don't remember Stefan Molyneux saying anything racist. Can someone share an example?

[deleted]

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#26
post #3

I haven't watched Stefan in a long time, is he now producing content in the same register as David Duke & Richard Spencer ? It did not seem to be the case a few years ago.

I used to listen to Stefan Molyneux about 10 years ago because he had some interesting views on free market economics. Now I look him up on Wikipedia and find out he's turned into a white nationalist. What the hell happened?

He went bad about 10 years ago. Before that he was halfway decent, however he did have some problematic tendencies, which I'm afraid were amplified and pushed out anything good.

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#27
post #13

Twitch and Reddit enacted bans simultaneously: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/29/reddit-bans-pro-tru... https://www.engadget.com/twitch-suspends-donald-trump-accoun... Seems odd for multiple independent companies to act in concert like this.

Why? There is a massive political movement for racial equality happening all over the country. They are responding to pressure from consumers, which they very much should, because all of these companies have ignored these issues for decades. They aren't coordinating with each other in some conspiracy to silence white supremacists. The -people- want white supremacists to be deplatformed (a good thing!).

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#28
post #3

I haven't watched Stefan in a long time, is he now producing content in the same register as David Duke & Richard Spencer ? It did not seem to be the case a few years ago.

I used to listen to Stefan Molyneux about 10 years ago because he had some interesting views on free market economics. Now I look him up on Wikipedia and find out he's turned into a white nationalist. What the hell happened?

Molyneux, precisely, does not advocate specifically for a white ethnostate where Spencer does. However, Molyneux doesn't oppose one on principle, which for most is too close for comfort so he gets branded as one.

I understand for many that is evidence of guilt but logically speaking that's not the same thing.

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#29
post #13

Twitch and Reddit enacted bans simultaneously: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/29/reddit-bans-pro-tru... https://www.engadget.com/twitch-suspends-donald-trump-accoun... Seems odd for multiple independent companies to act in concert like this.

> Seems odd for multiple independent companies to act in concert like this

Yes and no, this is less collusion and more to avoid platform hopping basically if one platform bans them they’ll flock to another even if the medium isn’t identical or the platform is not optimal for their use case any platform would do in times like these.

I’m pretty sure at this point when the behavior pattern is known the platforms inform each other of high profile bans.

The others follow suit to avoid being branded as the one that didn’t or worse as the one that accepted the now pariahs “with open arms”.

Re: YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer for hate speech

#30
post #13

Twitch and Reddit enacted bans simultaneously: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/29/reddit-bans-pro-tru... https://www.engadget.com/twitch-suspends-donald-trump-accoun... Seems odd for multiple independent companies to act in concert like this.

It is coordinated. Remember when Alex Jones got banned from literally everything on the same day?

The reddit bans wave was leaked in advance. The more actors involved in a coordinated action the harder it is to keep a secret.

Original leak: https://old.reddit.com/r/WatchRedditDie/comments/hh1pjd/redd...

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